3.5 out of 5 Stars!

Before Vixen became the supposedly “first” all-female Hard Rock band for many MTV listeners/watchers (those silly, silly “uninformed and naive” folks) in the late ’80s, Girlschool had actually ruled the freaking roost for nearly a decade. Indeed, Girlschool instantly got lumped into England’s “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” movement and quickly earned a reputation for being one of the more promising groups to have emerged during the movement’s early days, despite the gender of its band members.

Although Screaming Blue Murder, Girlschool’s third studio album, is not quite as stripped-down and driving as the band’s previous two releases, it’s the album where the girls started adding extra touches of commercialism to the overall sound, reaching for a wider market, and their efforts proved moderately successful, although they did lose some of the die-hard Metal fans in the process, those who preferred the band’s more straightforward sound.

Regardless, this is the album that introduced me to the band, and with tracks such as “Hellrazor,” “Wildlife,” “Flesh and Blood,” a cover of the Rolling Stones’s “Live With Me,” and the title track that opens the album, Screaming Blue Murder remains one of my favorites within Girlschool’s extensive catalogue of releases.

Get The Album Now!